Black Phantom
by Silverstride
Summary: This takes place after Black Butler 2, and there is another mystery... Ciel and Sebastian feel obliged to solve this mystery, but it merely gets odder and odder after each turn of events...


A/N – So a friend of mine had asked me to write a fanfic, and plus I've been wanting to write one for a while, so here it is! I wanted to post it tonight, and it took me over an hour to get onto , then figure out how to post. I started writing this during computer class a while ago last year, so forgive me if there are mistakes, or if anyone seems ooc. This is dedicated to the person that asked me to write this, and my friend that had introduced me to Black Butler in the first place. This is... technically my first fanfic ever, I hope I did well on it. :)

So this takes place after Black Butler 2, in London, etc. Review if you wish, and enjoy~

Prologue

Outside of the large home, frost began to renew itself from the year before, capturing precious life in its icy claws and caging it, not letting to set it free, unless a warm breeze of warm, of kindness set them free. Not everything is good, though; there would be no good without evil...

As he opened his ruby hued eyes, the young boy, (neither considered a child, nor a man) looked out the window, where he saw frost gripping at the fragile life outside. Outside of his crystalline window, he would often see birds, usually sparrows chirping or trilling merrily outside, with their tiny talons perched upon his windowsill. Today was not the case. Instead, Ciel found that there was no song from outside, and that everything was frozen, as if they decided they were too wary to sing.

Ciel was still lying in his bed, but he was discomforted by the fact that he was feeling dizzy. It wasn't normal. It felt as if thousands of invisible hands were dragging him down to the pit of the earth. Or perhaps the gravity was growing stronger? _You are not ill, _he confided in himself, dismissing the feelings all together and brought his thoughts back to the mysterious disappearance of the birds outside.

Birds such as waxwings, redwings, or even fieldfares in the winter were usually present; the fact that he saw none as of this moment was quite odd. The young boy stretched slightly, peeking over the window ledge and into the garden below. As Ciel gazed out at the garden, he saw that the Phantomhive garden was spectacular, in its winter affair, dressed for the occasion with silver-alabaster lacing, with either vibrant hues of red or purple surrounded by dark vivid emerald jeweled leaves. Even in the snow, everything was in its place; everything was straight and trimmed to perfection.

Ciel threw his thicker winter covers over his legs, then turned so his legs dangled off of his bed. Dust flew in the air at first, but then it settled quickly. More recently, Ciel had been waking up himself, and had been dressing, while Sebastian had been doing other tasks, such as fetching the daily paper, or making tea; all of the more important affairs. Ciel moved across the room with effort, tugging at his shirt in the closet to off of the hanger. He leaned on the cabinet for a moment, taking in a couple of deep breaths. This wasn't right; the comforting ambiance of his room was off.

As he slid his hand into his crisp shirt sleeve, Ciel then briskly finished dressing, then strode out the door, heading towards the study. His shoes made tapping noises that echoed in the entire building as he moved across the handsome colored carpet. He then spotted some of his other servants, who had bunched together in a group, discussing something amongst themselves. When his servants greeted him, then he nodded towards them, but he wanted to read the daily paper, the one that would likely be on his desk before he arrived. He acted quite indifferently though inside he felt horrible.

When he opened the doors with each hand on each door, Ciel automatically assumed that Sebastian was here; he was half right, for the daily paper was present, on his desk. But Sebastian wasn't. The young boy's ruby eyes settled; it wasn't urgent that he would talk to Sebastian; it could wait until he would arrive.

As he settled into his chair, Ciel then unfolded the crisp newspaper, and began to read an article, titled: Odd? Or Is There a Real Reason? _Scientists do not know how to explain the odd migration patterns of all the animals this year. They have all disappeared at once, even the species of animals that stay all year round. One scientist, by the name of Mr. Straughtsburg. had exclaimed that this change was astronomical, and wouldn't happen unless something was wrong. "After all," he said. "-animals do sense dangers long before humans can." Most of the other scientists dismissed this hypothesis, and merely said that it was due to a bit of odd migration, but that nothing overall was the matter._

_Last night, a man exclaimed that he had sworn he heard something scraping across the ground, groaning. And so he came outside to see where the sound was coming from, but he only found himself standing in some type of mist. He could've sworn that he heard wings. (Continued on A6) _

Ciel then flipped the paper rapidly to look for the next part of the article, but focused his attention on a sound of wheels, something that had entered the room, along with Sebastian.

"Tea, My Lord?" Sebastian asked quietly, tilting the silver colored teapot slightly and letting the tea pour from its spout, into a flawless white porcelain tea cup perched on top of an alabaster hued saucer. The warm water made a soft gurgling noise as it began to fill the small round cup, aimlessly transforming into puffs of mist rapidly setting themselves free and began to float towards the crystal-like window, where it promptly misted the view of the outside world. Ciel took the small cup, gripping it lightly, raising it to his lips, and then placing it back on top of the saucer, with a small clink. "Sebastian." He greeted lightly, glancing up from his daily paper. "Have you read the newspaper, Sebastian?" He asked smoothly, in a business-like tone, closing the paper that he was reading, and then looking up towards the tall man with the spotless white gloves.

"Yes. It seems as if there is a new case on our hands, My Lord," Sebastian replied as he casually walked towards the window and swiftly wiped it with a handkerchief, his back towards Ciel. "What makes you say that, Sebastian?" Ciel replied sharply, folding up the paper into a smaller piece and placing it on his dark mahogany colored desk. He then turned towards his butler, his ruby hued eyes gleaming slightly from underneath his dark colored hair. As usual, one of his eyes was covered, shielded from the light, still holding their secret agreement.

The corners of Sebastian's mouth curved upwards slightly, as he turned to face Ciel Phantomhive. "The newspaper talks about the suspicious odd migration patterns of the animals this year," he started off, his voice soft and silky. It seemed as if he wasn't really taking the time to really think about what he was going to say, he merely said what rolled off of his tongue. "Apparently though, all of the animals have disappeared without a trace. Scientists find this utterly unusual, for all of the animals to merely disappear. There was also… a small herd of deer found dead near the road that exits the city."

Ciel beckoned for Sebastian to pour him some more tea, his eyebrows raised before responding. He was quirked and rather curious by the piece of information that he hadn't heard before. Sebastian had basically summarized the whole article on the front. "Yes," he said promptly. "They say that the animals, even dogs and wolves had met up in the middle of the night, then dispersed. The deer killings, Sebastian, that wasn't in the newspaper, unless you've already have-" He paused for a moment, looking at the butler with a slightly fazed look.

"Already done My Lord," he replied shortly, raising the teapot, placing it back onto the tray. "After reading the newspaper this morning to check for… politics, I decided to investigate myself and find if there was more information. So while I fetched some more food for the larder (for the twelve cats that he had concealed deep within a closet, so his master wouldn't see), I saw some men hauling in deer, that had no bullet wounds whatsoever. Curiously, they had their eyes open too, all of them." Sebastian paused for a moment, and then saw that Ciel looked up at him in a conspicuous way.

"They weren't vacant looks, they had wide eyes, as if the last thing that they saw where the things they feared the most."

"All of them?" Ciel asked, pressing his thin fingers to the desk. "Yes," Sebastian replied grimly, shaking his head from side to side slightly. "I checked, then asked for the location of the road they were found. Apparently, they were found on a stray one, one that was beaten and old. No one had traveled on the path for days…"

"So how old are the deer carcasses?"

"Fresh, my Lord."

"And you say that we might have a new case on our hands? What does this even have to do with us?" Ciel winced for a moment, placing his head between his hands.

"My Lord?"

"Just… Dizzy. I'm fine," Ciel snapped, raising his head abruptly, and then walked away.

Sebastian pursed his lips. "I have been feeling it too, whatever it is." He said, his eyes narrowed, as he wouldn't usually admit this type of thing. Sebastian was never exactly very open, even to Ciel. Whatever secrets he held, he didn't spill.

Ciel raised himself from his desk, and then pressed his fingers even harder to the dark hued desk. His lips were thin, as he began to think of all of the possibilities to all of this madness. His head continued to spin. "Let's go to the place. Immediately."


End file.
